“四不像”依依惜别

尊敬的各位读者:

衷心感谢各位自“四不像”博客于2009年6月上线以来一路追随，不离不弃！

最初我曾在博客的介绍中说过，我将通过“四不像”与诸位分享我在中国改革开放前夜、初期、直至现在所经历的各种奇闻异事。

“四不像”的优势在于可以通过一个长期外籍居民的视角，透视中国近年来的巨大变迁。但时至今日，我觉得应该有所创新。因此，在不久的将来，你们会看到我将从一个全新的立足点和角度，推出一个新的博客。

但是，有些东西是不会改变的。比如：无论是好是坏，我的头脑以及我对事物的看法都不会改变；而中英双语的博客模式也会得到延续。

谢幕前，我还要感谢为本博客提供翻译、网络开发、设计、格式处理和技术支持的同事们。没有他们的努力，我的“四不像”很可能会沦落到“不三不四”的地步。真心地感谢他们！

希望各位继续关注我的新博客，也期待着您的意见和建议。最后，我还想听听您对另一件事的看法：有些读者建议我将“四不像”的双语博客汇集成书，但我担心这只会浪费纸张。您觉得呢？

四不像敬上

2011年10月

Sibuxiang’s Fond Farewell

Dear Readers,

Sincere thanks for your loyal following and readership since we launched the Sibuxiang blog in June, 2009.

As explained in the original introduction to the blog back then, I began by sharing anecdotes and experiences from my travels in China beginning before the Open Door and Reform. era, during the early days of that era, and on to the present.

Sibuxiang’s vantage point was that of a long-term foreign resident reflecting on the great differences between the recent past and present in China. I think it’s time for a new approach, so in the very near future you will see my blog relaunched with a new name, a new vantage point, and a new perspective.

Some things won’t change. My brain, for example, and the way I see things, are the same, for better or worse. Our bi-lingual Chinese and English presentation will also remain.

Before signing off I also wish to thank my colleagues who have so ably assisted with translation, web development, design, formatting and technical support, without which Sibuxiang might have ended up as “不三不四” (bu san bu si: neither here nor there). Many thanks indeed!

Watch this space for a new blog, and I hope you will share some feedback. One final question I would invite your suggestions on: some readers have encouraged me to publish a bi-lingual collection of Sibuxiang blog posts in book form. My own inclination is that this might be a waste of paper. Your thoughts?

Sibuxiang

October, 2011

香港有望很快成为无烟区

香港政府统计处（The Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department）近日调查显示，香港成年居民中烟民数量仅余11%。医疗专家将此视为喜讯，但烟草公司却愁眉不展。

籍此，香港已跻身于争创“无烟区”的城市、国家及地区的前列。所谓“无烟区”就是指吸食“魔鬼草”的成年居民少于或等于5%的地区。

在“无烟区”的竞争中，其他跑在前面的对手还包括新西兰（计划于2025年实现目标）和芬兰（目标定在2040年前）。与之相比，弹丸之地、人口稠密的香港无论在公共文化、地理条件还是其他方面似乎都不处于同一个量级。（例如，香港的人口远远超过新西兰和芬兰，即使把这两国的羊和驯鹿都加上也无法相提并论。）

一般情况下，各方的统计口径总是存在着差异。保险公司定义的烟民是指上一年度至少有过一次吸烟行为的人。而香港卫生部门的认定则较为宽松，只把每天至少吸一支烟的人列为烟民。

如今，香港事关吸烟的状况已经比20年前有了明显的改善。当年，香烟广告铺天盖地：排行榜、报纸、电视、广播无孔不入；为保护公众健康设立“非吸烟区”的规定尚未出台；香烟包装上也无需强制印刷“吸烟有害健康”的警示。

飞机、影院、餐馆里，人们喷云吐雾，烟气缭绕。

更严重的是，那时，公众对吸烟可能导致心肺疾病还疏于了解。通过宣传教育，现在这方面已经有所改观。

最近几年，在政府规定的干预下，香烟广告已经绝迹。法定禁烟区已经扩大到海滩、大多数公园、公交车站、酒吧餐馆等，还有专门的“烟警“（我给起的名字）负责给违规者开罚单。

香烟包装上现在都印有吸烟危害健康的图示，抽烟的成本也因政府增加税收，遏制香烟消费而大幅上涨（一包普通香烟如今售价已达50港币）。

另一个难以量化但却重大的控烟因素就是社会压力。当某个社会阶层的戒烟人数占上风时，就会迎来一个拐点，让剩余的烟民压力倍增，对制造二手烟危及邻居、家人和同事的健康产生顾忌，日复一日就会累积出雪球效应。

同时，全球烟草业也将掀起一波法律攻势，捍卫烟草消费，挑战政府扩大禁烟区、增加醒目烟盒包装警示的举措。例如，某些国家甚至考虑在香烟包装上禁止印刷任何品牌标识。

无论这轮反击的结果如何，香港在减少吸烟行为（及吸烟引发的疾病）上有三大成功经验。

首先，政府必须在广告宣传、设立禁烟区、征收烟草税方面通过有效的法规。

其次，政府必须采取切实步骤，保障法规的落实执行。

再次，政府需要长期开展公共宣传教育活动，以便让公众清楚地意识到吸烟以及二手烟对健康造成的危害。

事关禁烟，似乎全世界都站在了烟草公司的对立面，而烟民们受到的冲击就更不用说了。

Hong Kong: Soon a Smoke-free Zone?

The Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department’s recent survey showing that only 11% of Hong Kong resident adults are still smoking will be taken as good news by the medical health profession, but not such good news by the tobacco companies.

It puts Hong Kong into the forefront among cities, countries and territories aiming to achieve “smoke-free” status, a level which is defined as 5% or less of adult residents still puffing on the evil weed.

Other front runners in the race to smoke-free are New Zealand, which has set 2025 as its target year, and Finland, which is aiming to reach the goal by 2040.This puts tiny, densely populated Hong Kong in the somewhat unlikely company of two countries with which it has little in common culturally, geographically, or otherwise. (Hong Kong, for example, vastly outnumbers both New Zealand and Finland in population terms, unless we include sheep and reindeer in their tallies, and even then ….)

As usual, there are varying definitions which apply to the statistics. Insurance companies generally define a smoker as someone who has consumed tobacco at least once in the past year. Hong Kong health officials have a more relaxed view, defining a smoker as someone who consumes at least one cigarette a day.

There are some big, obvious differences surrounding smoking in Hong Kong today versus 20 years ago. In those days, cigarette advertising and promotion was prominent and omnipresent: billboards, newspapers, TV, radio, etc. There were no regulations establishing no-smoking zones for public health reasons; nor were their health warnings about the risks of smoking mandated to be printed on cigarette packaging.

Airplanes, cinemas, and restaurants were all smoke-filled from cheek to jowl.

Importantly, public awareness about the links between smoking and diseases of the lung and cardiovascular system was low in those days. This has changed, through education and advocacy.

In more recent years, cigarette advertising has disappeared due to government regulations. Smoke-free zones by law include beaches, most public parks, bus stops, bars and restaurants, etc.; and these bans are enforced by uniformed “smoke police” (my term) who slap offenders with fines.

Cigarette packaging carries graphic warnings about the health risks of smoking, and the cost of smoking has been ratcheted up (HK$50 for the average pack of cigarettes today) through government taxation specifically aimed at curbing consumption.

Another factor which is difficult to quantify but deemed significant by the anti-smoking advocates is peer pressure. As a turning point is reached and a growing majority of people in any sub-set of the community stop smoking, the remaining smokers are gradually subject to some degree of pressure to stop creating second-hand health risks for their neighbors, family and colleagues. This seems to have a snowball effect over time.

The global battle over tobacco consumption, meanwhile, is likely to see a wave of legal initiatives launched by tobacco companies challenging government regulations expanding no-smoking zones, as well as more explicit health warnings required on cigarette packaging. Some countries are considering legislation which would ban brand identification of any sort on cigarette packaging, for example.

Regardless of the outcome of those challenges, three lessons seem clear from Hong Kong’s success in cutting down on the incidence of smoking (and smoking-related health problems).

First, the government has to pass effective regulations on advertising & promotion, smoke-free zones, and taxation of cigarettes.

Second, they have to take effective steps to enforce these regulations.

Third, a long-term public education and awareness campaign is required to educate people to the clear and obvious health risks associated with smoking, including the health impacts of second-hand smoke on bystanders.

The global trend in this respect seems to be against, rather than with, the tobacco companies, not to mention the smokers.

拍案惊奇之香港两大意外

这么多年我一直喜欢住在香港，原因之一就是香港和香港人敢于并乐于接受变化，具备超强的接受能力。此外，香港也是一个意外连连、兼容并蓄、自相矛盾的地方，从来都不会让人感到沉闷。

事实上，香港40%的领土都被郊野公园所占据，这些公园对长年拥挤在铜锣湾和旺角街头的市民魅惑至深。代表香港形象的一般都是它的水泥森林，绝不可能是野生植物密布的丛林。

但这恰巧是香港的一大出人意料之处：香港的陆地面积为1,092平方公里，其中受法律保护不得用于开发的郊野公园就占到440平方公里。新界东北岸等地现在仍是一派杳无人烟的天然美景。

从很大程度上来说，我们应该感谢执政时间最长（1971-1982）的港督——已故的麦理浩爵士，正是他积极倡导保护郊野公园，并于1976年最终促成了《郊野公园条例》（Country Parks Ordinance）的通过。在担任第25任港督期间，麦理浩的历史性功绩还包括于1974年成立了廉政公署（the Independent Commission Against Corruption）、确认中文作为香港的第二工作语言、修建地铁、将农村改建为沙田、屯门等新城，以及兴建重大基础设施等。当年，成立廉署和保护郊野公园都遭到既得利益者的强烈反对，但最终二者都成为香港特有的重要标志。

香港第二个可能会令读者感到意外的是：根据《南华早报》（the South China Morning Post）及其他媒体近期的新闻标题显示，《福利机关称香港五分之一的人口生活在贫困线以下》（1 in 5 Live Below Poverty Line, Welfare Body Says.）。

这又和大家概念中的香港形象——豪华跑车及游艇、数不尽的奢侈品牌、天价海景房等——大相径庭。

作为多家关注贫困与弱势群体的非政府及志愿组织的代表，香港社会服务联会（the Hong Kong Council of Social Service）报告说香港特别行政区有18%的人收入只有中等收入的一半。以三口之家为例，月入仅为7,000港元。

在元朗、葵涌、深水埗等地区，生活在贫困线以下的人口超过20%。香港社会服务联会的报告还详细披露了针对贫困、年长、残疾及精神障碍人士的医疗及其他服务匮乏的状况。

根据香港特区政府新闻处（the Information Services Department）发表的《香港年报2010》（Hong Kong 2010），香港 2010年的就业人口为349.2万，月工资中间值为11,000港元。

月收入低于6,000港元的人数为585,400人，占总数的16.7%。

相比之下，2005年的月收入中间值为10,000港元，意味着五年间工资仅增长了10%；但同期港元兑人民币的汇率却直线下跌，导致食品及其他产品都要依赖于大陆进口的香港消费购买力严重受挫。

或许上面的故事可以套用俗语“人不可貌相”来概括，换句话说，就是“城市不可凭CBD来衡量”。

Two Surprising Things About Hong Kong

One reason I have enjoyed living in Hong Kong all these years is that the place and its people have a great capacity for embracing change with gusto and enthusiasm. It is also a place full of surprises, juxtapositions, and paradoxes. Never a dull moment.

The fact that 40% of Hong Kong’s area is devoted to country parks never ceases to amaze people who have mainly walked the crowded streets of Causeway Bay or Mongkok. The usual image of Hong Kong is densely packed concrete jungles rather than jungles of the wild green variety.

That’s surprise number one: that country parks, protected by law from development, occupy 440 sq. km. of Hong Kong’s 1092 sq. km land area. Parts of the landscape, such as the Northeast New Territories, are still wild, beautiful, and basically uninhabited.

In large measure, we can thank Hong Kong’s longest serving British Governor (1971-1982), the late Sir Murray Maclehose, for leading the effort to protect these country parks , culminating in the Country Parks Ordinance being passed in 1976. Other historic achievements during Maclehose’s term as the 25th governor of Hong Kong were the formation of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in 1974, the formal recognition of Chinese as the second official language of Hong Kong, construction of the Mass Transit Railway (MTR), transforming rural agricultural villages into new towns like Shatin and Tun Mun, and other major infrastructure works. Formation of the ICAC and protection of country parks faced tremendous opposition at the time from vested interests, and both have defined important hallmarks of what makes Hong Kong unique.

The second thing which might surprise readers about Hong Kong was reflected in a recent newspaper headline in the South China Morning Post and other media in Hong Kong: “1 in 5 Live Below Poverty Line, Welfare Body Says.”

Here again there is a stark contrast with the usual images people associate with Hong Kong: fancy cars and yachts, luxury brands in abundance, super expensive seaview apartments, etc.

The story is that according to the Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS), which represents many NGOs and voluntary organizations dealing with less affluent and disadvantaged members of Hong Kong society, 18 percent of the SAR’s population earned only half the median income. The example cited was a family of three earning just HK$7,000 per month.

In some districts such as Yuen Long, Kwun Tong and Sham Shui Po, the percentage of people living below the poverty line is in excess of 20%. The HKCSS report went on to detail shortfalls in health care and other services for poor, elderly, disabled and mentally handicapped people.

According to the annual yearbook “Hong Kong 2010″ published by the Information Services Department of the HKSAR Government, the median monthly employment earnings in 2010 of Hong Kong’s 3.492 million employed persons was HK$11,000.

Those earning less than HK$6,000 per month number 585,400, or 16.7% of the total.

By comparison, the median monthly employment earnings in 2005 was HK$10,000. In effect that means that over that five year period there was only a 10% increase, coupled with a relatively steep decline in the Hong Kong dollar’s value against the RMB, which affects Hong Kong consumers purchasing power dramatically due to the SAR’s reliance on imported food and other products from the mainland.

Perhaps the moral of the story is a corollary to the adage “Never judge a book by its cover.” In this case, the appropriate message would be “Never judge a city by its CBD.”

留学申请黑幕：要不要教孩子说谎？

“学校总是江河日下，而且历来如此。”

——威尔•罗杰斯（Will Rogers）

“接受教育是必须的，但不要受学校的干扰。”

——马克•吐温（Mark Twain）

一个社会的教育体制总要在大众和领军人物的推动下，朝着更高的标准和期望发展，因为社会的未来取决于它所塑造培育出的年轻一代，包括他们将来服务、领导、发明、创新、提供就业、管理他人和抚养子女的能力。

上述两位美国著名评论家的金句说明，我们从来不乏意见领袖来炮轰当代教育无力满足社会的预期，历史上这样的例证层出不穷。

中美两国的媒体也充斥着如何改善各自教育体制的热烈讨论，有时论战还会波及太平洋两岸。

某些美国评论人士羡慕中国每年毕业的大量工科生，有时仅凭这一数字就直接蹦出“美国实力将在几十年后被蚕食殆尽”的结论。

而许多中国评论员则哀叹国内学校教育以应试为主，脱离时代，缺乏对团队合作以及创新能力的培养。这也是富裕阶层热衷赴美接受高等教育的常见理由之一。

如今，中国的在美留学生总数已居各国之首。2010年，本科毕业的中国留美学生已经达到40,000人，很快就会追平66,000人的研究生纪录。越来越多有能力的中国家庭都把孩子送到美国上中学，目的就是期望他们能够顺理成章地升入大学。

这本身是个好迹象，反映出不仅是新富阶层，就连传统家庭都极其重视子女的教育。自上世纪九十年代末起，公派留学生向自费留学生转化的速度不断加快，并稳步上升。

与此同时，出国留学也演变成一项庞大的产业，其中衍生出一些丑陋而令人不快的现象。

近日，Danwei.org（知名英文网站，报道关注中国社会、文化现状——译注）转载了一篇中国报纸《南方周末》的文章，对国内留学中介协助家长及子女获得美国大学录取资格的黑幕进行了深度报道。

有些中介公司只有申请成功才会收费，和某些律所代理伤害案只有替客户争取到赔偿才会收费的情况类似。但也有些中介充其量只是低端美国大学的“销售代理”。

除了申请人数激增以外，很多美国大学缺乏鉴别中国申请人资质的资源或专业能力，这一点也让情况雪上加霜。报道援引业内消息称，当下留学申请欺诈盛行，中国的国家形象及中国申请学生都深受其害。

南加州大学（the University of Southern California）的最新调查显示，在美就读的中国本科生有近三分之二是通过留学中介录取的。

最常见的欺骗手段就是篡改成绩单，其间家长和子女还会得到国内学校的配合，由学校在收取“管理费”的前提下出具拔高分数的虚假成绩单。

有些申请顾问在签约后甚至不允许申请人查看申请文件。申请人“被个性化”的论文、推荐信以及伪造的实习经历都由别人一手包办。某些情况下还可以为申请人提供英语好的付费“枪手”，向学校证明申请人的英语能力合乎标准。结果，多家美国大学都报告说新入学的中国留学生英文水平离课堂要求还相差很远。

据《南方周末》的文章估计，中国的留学咨询业务每年可达1亿美元，并且增长迅速。

显然，问题的根源涉及大洋两岸，要想根除还需双方共同努力。

同时，也有两个让人完全不想看到的后果。

首先，最有可能产生长期破坏影响的就是大批聪明上进的中国青年受家长和老师的教唆，以竞争白热化为借口，将撒谎和欺骗看做是争当人上人的合理方式。

其次，这一现象败坏了中国及其海外留学生的形象，即便是申请过程没有一点猫腻的学生也受到无辜牵连。

美国获得认可的学院和大学共有3,500所左右。很多中国留学顾问都按这些学校在《美国新闻和世界报道》（the U.S. News and World Report）中的年度排名收费，排名越高，收费越贵。

备受尊敬的撰稿人 Malcolm Gladstone 在今年2月14日和21日的《纽约客》杂志（The New Yorker）上发表了长篇文章，详细剖析《美国新闻和世界报道》如何在方法论上存在着严重瑕疵，偏向收费昂贵的私立大学；而包括州立和地方大学在内的很多一流学校虽然排名靠后，但课程设置和设施都很优秀。

第一步，中国家长和学生应破除对这一排名的迷信，抛开被某些寡廉鲜耻的留学顾问忽悠起来的紧张情绪。他们可以通过EducationUSA设在北京的办事处获得关于美国高教信息的免费咨询。该办事处总监对《南方周末》的记者说：“我还从没遇到过不能自己办理的家庭或学生。”

而第二步就是美中两国的教育部应启动对话进程，探讨可以改善现状并有利于双边国家、学校和家庭的解决方式。

价值和声望好比知名品牌，需要很长时间才能建立起来，但却容易毁于一旦。至于竞争白热化，这从来都不是什么新鲜事，而且短期内也不会改变。

Are We Teaching the Kids to Lie?

“The schools ain’t what they used to be, and they never was.”

– Will Rogers

“Education is what you must acquire without any interference from your schooling.”

– Mark Twain

A society’s education system is rightly held to high standards and expectations by its citizens and leaders, because the future depends so heavily on the qualities of the young people it shapes and develops, and their future ability to serve, lead, invent, innovate, create jobs, manage people, raise children, etc.

As the quotes above from two famous American commentators illustrate, history is filled with examples of opinion leaders with strong views about the inadequacy of contemporary education in delivering the desired results.

Media in both America and China are full of lively, heated debates about how to fix their respective education systems; and sometimes the discussion points cross the Pacific Ocean.

Some commentators in the U.S. envy China’s prodigious annual output of engineering graduates, sometimes jumping from this data point to dire conclusions about the erosion of American competitiveness in the decades to come.

Many commentators in China bemoan the outdated over-reliance on rote learning in Chinese schools, and the general absence of learning about teamwork and innovation. Among the moneyed classes, this is often cited as one reason to pursue higher studies in the U.S.

Chinese students now outnumber other foreign nationals studying on American university campuses. Undergraduates from China hit 40,000 in 2010, and are quickly gaining ranks with the 66,000 graduate students from China. More and more mainland families with the means to do so are sending their children to the U.S. for enrollment in secondary schools in anticipation of continuing on through college.

This is in itself a very good and healthy sign which reflects not only new levels of wealth but strong traditional family values which place great emphasis on the education of one’s children. The shift from government sponsored to individual sponsored overseas education gained traction in the late 1990s and has been growing steadily ever since.

At the same time, it’s developed into a big business with some ugly and undesirable aspects to it.

A recent article in China’s “Southern Weekend”, republished on Danwei.org, reported in some depth about the murky world of college application consultancies in China which offer assistance to parents and their children who are seeking admission to US universities.

Some of these companies operate on the basis that their fee is only paid when admission is obtained, a bit like law firms who only collect their fees if an injury lawsuit wins damages on behalf of their client. Some of them are also in effect “sales agents” for lower-tier US colleges.

Compounding the problem of surging application numbers is the fact that many U.S. universities lack the resources or expertise to verify the details of applicants from China. According to industry sources quoted in the article, application fraud is rife, and the image of China and Chinese student applicants has suffered.

According to a recent study done at the University of Southern California, nearly two thirds of current undergraduates from China studying in the U.S. used an application consultant to gain admission.

One of the most common fraudulent practices is transcript. alteration, in which the parents and student obtain the cooperation of their school in China to issue a false, enhanced transcript, in exchange for an “administration fee.”

Some application consultants even refuse to allow the applicant to see their application documents once the contract is signed. The applicant’s “personalized” admissions essay, letters of reference, and phoneyed internships are all taken care of.In some cases, paid stand-ins with good English skills are provided to impersonate the applicant and convince the university that the applicant’s English language capabilities are up to standard. As a result, several US universities reported newly enrolled students from China whose English language abilities were far short of what’s required in the classroom.

The “Southern Weekend” article estimated that the application consultancy business in China is in the range of a US$100 million per year industry, and growing fast.

Obviously the roots of this problem lie on both sides of the ocean, and an effective clean up will require joint efforts.

In the meantime, there are two wholly undesirable outcomes.

First and perhaps most damaging in the long run, a whole host of bright, ambitious, young Chinese people are effectively being taught by their parents and teachers at home that lying and cheating is an OK way to get ahead in life, based on the excuse that competition is white hot.

Second, this phenomenon is generating a bad reputation for China and her students heading abroad, even those who have not engaged in any monkey business in the application process.

The U.S. has some 3,500 accredited colleges and universities. Many admissions consultants in China base their fees on the U.S. News and World Report annual ranking, with higher fees charged for admission to higher ranked schools, and vice versa.

Respected author Malcolm Gladstone wrote a lengthy and detailed analysis in the February 14 and 21, 2011, issue of The New Yorker magazine, examining how the U.S. News and World Report ranking is seriously flawed in methodology; and tends to favor wealthy private universities. Many first-rate schools, including state and regional ones, are placed way down the list; but offer excellent programs and facilities.

As a first step, Chinese parents and students should break free from the obsession with this ranking, as well as having their anxieties stoked by some of the more unscrupulous application consultancies. One good source of free advice on higher education opportunities in the U.S. is EducationUSA, which has an office in Beijing. Their director told “Southern Weekend”: “I haven’t come across any family or student that couldn’t do it themselves.”

As a second step, there should be a process of dialogue begun between China’s Ministry of Education and the U.S. Department of Education on finding ways to improve this messy situation for the benefit of both countries, the schools and families involved.

Like a strong brand, values and reputation take a long time to build but a very short time to damage. And as for white hot competition, it’s nothing new, and not likely to change any time soon.

香港楼市乱象丛生

这几个月，香港过热的住宅市场有所降温，也没有很快抬头的迹象，但商用地产市场依然火爆，长盛不衰。

造成这种现象的原因是既有及新兴企业对房地产的需求量增加，但市场投放却相对有限。因此，大多数人都预测未来房价将持续走高，尤以核心区为甚。而在租赁市场，香港、内地以及海外企业的需求则表现得较为均衡。

很明显，目前市场已经进入了重组阶段，正向新兴的东九龙高档地段及其他曾被认为偏远或低品质的地段大举扩张。

一般情况下，交通改善会显著提高某一地区的吸引力，随之而来的就是房价和租金水涨船高。例如，新建的港铁西港岛线就给西环及周边地区的市容市貌和人口构成带来了极大的改变；即将竣工的中环至北角绕道工程也将使两地之间的车程大幅缩减至5分钟。

在一片喧闹之中，我们公司办公室的房东也向全体租户发出了限期六个月搬离的通知，原因是他们计划要改建高档公寓。这是十年间我第二次遭遇同样的命运，上一次是业主要把办公楼改成饭店。

两次搬家的共同点是，根据香港标准的租房合同，业主只要提前六个月通知租户，就可以终止租赁协议，无需支付任何赔偿。这对租户来说可不是闹着玩儿，但在乱象丛生的香港楼市，现行的法律就是如此。

在飘飘然的香港楼市，这种情况司空见惯，就如同花巨资购买的海景房突然被眼前冒出的大厦挡住了视线，有时这些大厦的建设用地甚至来自于回填码头。

面对六个月限期搬离的通知，我们紧锣密鼓地开始在几个选定区域搜集办公大厦的资料。

其间，我们制作了一份地图，把本地员工的住址做了标注，以此作为寻找新办公地点的依据。虽然不可能做到人人满意，但这种努力还是得到了员工的一致好评。

经过海选、淘汰、入围程序，范围也从地区缩小到楼宇，最终我们进入了实地考察阶段。

我们将目标锁定在港岛北部西环至鲗鱼涌之间的几栋办公楼。每次我们都会和业主或者业主代表简单会晤，然后再实地考察设施的状况。

从早晨9：30与第一家会面考察开始，直到下午5：30最后一家结束，当天我们总共看了14间大厦。

这其实算不上什么，除非你停下来扪心自问，假如不是在香港，这世上难道还有其他地方能让你在8个小时内看完14间大厦吗（其中还包括一小时的午餐时间）？

我肯定会回答说：绝对没有。

这就是为什么很多人一旦习惯了香港的高效率，就会发现其他城市在这方面与香港相比，只能望其项背。

Hong Kong’s Wild and Woolly Property Market

Although Hong Kong’s super-heated residential property market has cooled in recent months and shows no signs of ramping up again soon, the commercial market is still fairly hot and looks likely to remain so.

This is being driven by continued demand for new and additional premises, both from companies already here as well as those coming into the market. There is a very limited amount of new space in the pipeline, so most forecasters see a continued robust trend in prices, especially in core areas. Demand for rental premises seems reasonably well balanced from Hong Kong, mainland, and international companies.

There is clearly a restructuring of the market underway, with tremendous expansion into newly emerging higher quality areas in Kowloon East and other areas once considered remote or lower grade.

As usual, improved transport links have a tremendous impact on which districts are considered attractive, and in turn, sale and rental prices. The new MTR link into Hong Kong Island’s westside district of Saiwan, for example, is effectively causing big changes in the composition and demographics of adjacent neighborhoods; and the soon-to-be-completed Central to North Point road link is slated to reduce average driving time between those districts dramatically, to about five minutes.

Amidst all this to-ing and fro-ing, our office landlord gave all tenants in the building six months’ notice to vacate, due to their plan to redevelop the premises into a high-end apartment block. This is the second time in roughly ten years that the same fate has befallen us. Last time it was redevelopment of an office block into a hotel.

In both instances, standard commercial leases in Hong Kong give the landlord the right to terminate tenancy agreements with six months’ notice, without compensation. Not much fun for tenants, but this is the law of the property jungle in Hong Kong.

In Hong Kong’s heady property market, you get used to stuff like this, just as you get used to your lovely sea view, for which you paid a premium, being blocked by a new building(s) erected just in front of it, sometimes on land reclaimed from the harbor.

Faced with six months’ notice, we switched into high gear and began collecting data about premises in various buildings in selected districts we were considering for our relocation.

As part of the process, we assembled a map showing which districts our locally based staff currently live in, to help guide us in selecting the location of our new office. It’s impossible to please everyone, but the effort to choose the best possible location is generally appreciated by all staff.

After some winnowing, sorting, and short-listing, first of districts, and then of buildings, it was time to start inspecting potential new premises.

Our goal was to look at premises in a variety of buildings in various neighborhoods on the north side of Hong Kong Island, between Sai Wan and Quarry Bay. In each case, that involved a brief meeting with the landlord or their representative, followed by a tour of the premises, inspection of the facilities, etc.

Our first meeting and building tour was at 9:30 am. We concluded the last inspection of the day at 5:30 pm. All in all, we visited and inspected 14 buildings.

That’s no big deal, unless you stop and ask yourself if it’s possible to complete 14 initial premises inspections in a variety of neighborhoods within an 8-hour period (including a one hour lunch break) in any other city around the world other than Hong Kong.

I would maintain the answer is: no way.

It’s no wonder you meet a lot of people who, once they get used to Hong Kong’s level of efficiency, find that most other cities lag far behind.

失物天堂：智能手机香港历险记

最近我和朋友在香港碰了个头，那天早晨他刚从北京过来。因为到香港后发生的一些事，让他对香港再次充满热情。

朋友从赤腊角机场出来后，坐机场快线只用23分钟就到了中环（单程车票100港币）。从那里，他和同事搭计程车前往万豪酒店（the J.W. Marriot Hotel）。在酒店入住登记时，朋友发现智能手机不见了。

每个人看到这里都会想，这下完了，心里肯定沮丧透顶！更糟糕的是，因公出国刚开始就遇到了这种事儿，马上就让人担心“万一找不回来怎么办？”如果在公共场所丢了手机，我们大都会认为找回来的机会约等于零。

我朋友回想他可能是把手机丢在了机场快线上，于是就请同事给机场快线打电话报失，咨询是否有人捡到。

让他惊喜的是，有人拾到他的手机并交给了机场快线工作人员。现在手机正按流程随下一趟列车被送往机场的失物招领处。

在确认了失主身份并对情况的紧急程度表示充分理解后，那位服务人员同意将手机放在下一趟列车上送回港岛，并由朋友的同事到中环站领取。

结果呢？我朋友的手机在丢失2小时后就完璧归赵，而且也没有为此支付任何费用或酬金。可以想见他在拿回手机时的感激程度。

他告诉我之前他在内地一个中部城市丢手机的遭遇和这次完全不同。那回，他很确定是把手机丢在了出租车上，于是就用另一部电话拨打自己的手机，结果一个疑似出租车司机的人接了电话。

“您是刚才在车上捡到这部手机的吗？”

“没有啊。”

“您确定吗？”

“嗯。”

“您再好好想想？”

“没必要，不在这儿。”

朋友很快就意识到给点儿酬劳可能会管用，于是就提出奖励2,000元。对方的态度马上来了个一百八十度大转弯。

“那我再看看啊，噢，原来是在这儿呢……”

香港经久不衰的优势之一就是硬件和软件的有机结合。硬件是高效的基础，但只有软件才能全面挖掘出基础设施的效能。软件的重要组成部分之一就是人的价值观和服务态度。

要想打造卓越的服务业，既需要发展硬件也需要发展软件。而发展软件的难度更大，需要在教育和培训上的大力投入。

谁都不想丢手机，但和其他地方比起来，香港似乎是个丢手机的天堂。

Hong Kong: Good Place to Lose a Mobile Phone

I recently had a meeting in Hong Kong with a friend who had just arrived that same morning from Beijing. He was full of renewed enthusiasm for Hong Kong because of what happened to him after arrival here.

He departed Chek Lap Kok Airport for the 23-minute ride to Central District on the Airport Express (one way fare: HK$ 100). From the Central train depot he and his colleague caught a taxi to the J.W. Marriot Hotel. By the time they arrived at the hotel and began the check-in process, he realized his smartphone was missing.

As everyone reading this will appreciate, that is a very bad, sinking feeling. It’s even worse at the beginning of an international business trip. Immediately, fears of “what if?” arise, as in “what if I can’t get it back?” Most of us who have lost a mobile phone in a public place tend to assume the chance of getting it back are slim to zero.

My friend thought there was a chance he had lost the phone on the train, so he asked his colleague to telephone the Airport Express to report the loss and inquire as to whether anyone had turned it in.

To his pleasant surprise, his phone had been found and handed over to the Airport Express staff, who had put it on the next train back to the airport, and into the care of their lost and found department, as a matter of standard procedure.

After verifying ownership, and sympathetic to the urgency of the situation, the staff agreed to put the phone on the next train to Hong Kong, for my friend’s colleague to pick up at Central station.

The result? My friend had his phone back within about 2 hours of losing it, of course with no need to pay a fee or reward. He was, understandably, greatly relieved and very grateful.

He told me this was a very different experience from the last time he lost his phone, in a city in central China. On that occasion he was fairly sure he lost it in a taxi, so he called his own number from another phone, and someone he suspected to be the taxi driver answered.

“Have you found this mobile phone in your taxi just now? ”

“Nope.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yep.”

“Can you check again please.”

“No need. Not here.”

He quickly realized that offering an incentive might yield a different result, so he offered a reward of RMB 2,000. This produced a different attitude.

“Let me look again. Oh. Here it is after all…”

One of Hong Kong’s enduring advantages is the combination of hardware and software. Hardware provides the basis for efficiency, but only software can fully exploit the benefits of that infrastructure; and an important part of software includes peoples’ values and attitudes toward serving others.

To develop excellence in the service sector, you need both hardware and software. The software part is a bigger challenge and takes significant investment in education and training.

None of us plan to lose mobile phones, but it appears Hong Kong is a better place to do so than many others.

不解之谜：香港航空信误投百慕大

几个月前我就写过，我们总是高估到底有多少美国同胞知道香港的确切方位。

在某种程度上，这是香港这类弹丸之地的死穴。如果说人个子矮，婉转的说法是“高度不够”，如果形容地方小，常会说“空间不足”。

澳大利亚人口仅相当于香港的三倍出头，但它幅员辽阔，大家都知道它的位置，起码能排除一些不靠谱的选项（比如不会在非洲；而且人们还会联想起袋鼠、考拉、鳄鱼邓迪）。加拿大也是如此（在最北边；有北极熊和冰球），还有印度（靠南；有眼镜蛇和客户呼叫中心），诸如此类。

地方小也有小的好处，毕竟树大招风，出头的椽子先烂。但作为一个城市、国家或者特别行政区来说，让尽可能多的人知道你在哪儿或者不在哪儿终归是个现实而且必要的目标。

在教化美国人方面（我敢说同样包括其他很多西方人），香港还应该再下一番功夫。当然，美国的学校也该适当提高世界地理的教学水平。

最近发生在我身上的一件小事证明“香港在哪儿”确实是道谜题。几周前我在香港的家里收到一张非常有趣的生日卡。贺卡是我姐姐Mary Beth从芝加哥附近的家中用航空信寄出的，信的邮资充足，地址填写清楚完整，最后还注明是递往“中国香港特别行政区”。尽管她特意提前几周就寄出了贺卡，但我还是在一个月后才收到她的来信。

真正让我大跌眼镜的是信封收件人的地址旁盖了个红戳（而非手写！），赫然注明“百慕大邮局：误投，请试它局”。

Hong Kong Airmail: “Missent to Bermuda”

As I wrote a few months ago, we routinely overestimate the number of my fellow Americans who have any idea where Hong Kong is.

To some extent, this is a challenge endemic to tiny places like Hong Kong. Among people, a euphemism for short ones is “vertically challenged”. Among places, it would follow to call tiny ones “spatially challenged.”

Australia is a huge place with only slightly more than 3 times the population of Hong Kong, but everyone has a pretty good idea where it is, or at least generally where it’s not (e.g. not located in Africa; think: kangaroos, koalas and Crocodile Dundee). Same thing for Canada (way up north; polar bears; ice hockey), India (way down south; cobras; call centers), and so on.

There is virtue in being small. Short trees are less likely to attract lightning strikes or lose branches in high winds. But as a city, country, or special administration region, it is a valid and desirable goal that as many people as possible have some notion of where you are, and where you are not.

Hong Kong still has a ways to go in educating my fellow Americans, and I daresay many other westerners, about its location. And of course America’s schools need to do a better job of teaching world geography.

The latest “Where is Hong Kong?” example which came to my attention was just a week or so ago when a very entertaining birthday card arrived in the mail at my home in Hong Kong. My sister Mary Beth had air-mailed it from her home near Chicago, with correct airmail postage and a clearly legible and complete mailing address, ending in “Hong Kong S.A.R., China”. Even though she mailed it several weeks in advance of my birthday, it took about one month to reach me.

What really struck home was the message stamped in red ink (stamped rather than hand-written) on the envelope, next to my mailing address, which said: “MISSENT TO BERMUDA.”

绑架勒索制假，手机诈骗大观

几个月前我在北京收到一条手机中文短信，说我的孩子被绑架了，要救他们就必须马上付赎金。

虽然我没被吓到，但还是吃了一惊，因为从一开始我就知道这不是真的。后来我向当地很多朋友、同事提起了这件事，结果他们的反应几乎一致：他们都经历过多次这样的手机诈骗。

后来就发生了一个多月前的重大新闻——多国警察首次联手查处类似案件，在东南亚数国逮捕了约600名嫌犯。

这个犯罪团伙组织严密，他们以内地富人为目标，通过随机拨打手机号码和编造五花八门的故事，告知机主已卷入重大法律纠纷，劝说他们赶紧破财免灾。

这些报道读起来无异于天方夜谭，但这帮人非常擅长卸去人们的防范心理，编造有鼻子有眼的说辞，恫吓受害人。

我知道有些人因此上当受骗，不仅损失金钱，还经历了恐惧、烦恼和不安。这些恶棍组织性极强，能将他们绳之以法实在是大快人心。

今天我又了解到一个手机诈骗短信的新变种，事关假资格证书的制售。只要6,000元人民币（需预付20%）就能伪造一张逼真的资格证书，用来应聘医生等职业。他们号称制作的假证和卫生部（the Ministry of Health）颁发的证书一模一样。

他们还有好多其他假证可供挑选，如教师证、飞行员证、工程师本等。

这种想法简直太恐怖了。即便录取脑外科医师或飞行员不会光凭一纸证书，但让冒牌货鱼目混珠的风险却大大提高。

我太太给向她发假证短信的号码回了电，了解到更多情况，紧接着就报了警。警方很感谢她提供的情况。

骗子的手段总是花样翻新，他们似乎把美国马戏团老板P.T.巴纳姆的名言“这个世界上，每分钟都有傻瓜出生”当成了座右铭。

接下来的骗术又会是什么呢？

Mobile Scams: Kidnapping, Extortion, Forgery

A few months ago while in Beijing I received a short message on my cell phone, in Chinese, informing me that my kids had been kidnapped and telling me the first steps I should take on getting them back by paying a ransom.

I was shocked although not alarmed, because as it happened, I knew this was not true. Later I mentioned it to various local friends and colleagues, all of whom had the same reaction: this kind of mobile phone scam happens to them fairly often.

Then there was the extraordinary news a month or so ago about unprecedented cooperation in an international police investigation which resulted in the arrest of some 600 alleged crooks in a variety of Southeast Asian countries.

This well-organized gang had targeted wealthy mainlanders by randomly cold-calling cell phones and trying out a variety of phony explanations of how the called party was in big trouble with the law and needed to remit funds to get out of trouble.

It may sound unlikely when you read about it, but they were expert in catching people off guard and verbally intimidating them with plausible sounding stories.

I know someone who was scammed in this way, and apart from the lost funds, it was a very scary, unpleasant and unsettling experience. These folks were very well-organized, and it’s good they got nabbed.

The latest new twist I learned about today is an SMS offer to sell fake qualification certificates. For RMB 6,000 (20% in advance, please), they offer to produce a certificate real-looking enough for you to get a job, as, for example, a doctor. They claimed their fake doctors’ certification looks just like the ones issued by China’s Ministry of Health.

They also have a variety of other certificates available for you to choose from: teacher, airline pilot, engineer, etc.

That’s a pretty scary thought. Even allowing for the fact that it would normally take more than just a certificate to get a job as a brain surgeon or jet pilot, opening the door to this kind of misrepresentation by imposters is hugely risky.

My wife called the number offering the fakes which was texted to her mobile phone, and obtained some more information. Her next call was to the police, who were very appreciative of the tip.

“这是您的名片还是家谱？”

从上世纪70年代中我搬到中国起，中国的名片就以有趣的方式记录着时代的变迁。

记得我第一次到访中国内地时，那里还没有名片。为了搞清会议桌对面坐的是谁，我们必须玩一些猜谜游戏。不使用名片不仅是因为纸张短缺，也反映出当年对来访人员开放信息的程度。

那时候认为提供全名和职务并不重要，反正当年也没有什么来往，至少在商业事务上情况是如此。

中国在世界大家族中有个显著特点，就是庞大的人口和稀少的姓氏形成了反比，大约15亿人仅使用100个常见姓氏，共用的人实在是太多了。

人多，姓少，而且过去还只有一种称谓——“同志”，再加上没有名片，可以想见当年的商务会谈会这样开局：

外方：	中方官员：
“您姓李？”	“不是，您再猜猜。”
“那您姓张？”	“不对，再猜。”
“陈？”	“不不，再来一次。”
“黄？”	“还不对，接着猜。现在只剩96个备选答案了。”
“同志！”	“对，谢谢！”

改革开放以后，名片在管理人员和干部当中流行起来，名片的正面一般是中文，反面印有英文和拼音字母。最开始是简单的黑白两色，后来发展成彩色印刷，附带标识、品牌，有时还有压花之类的特殊效果。

后来，顶顶重要的大人物对名头和单位的追求日渐成风。为震慑朋友和同事，他们把名片印成折页状，仿佛中国的古书，上面的字也小到必须用放大镜才能看清。反正真正目的也不是要让人看清，只要职务和隶属关系的数量以及范畴能让人肃然起敬就行。

另一种不太普遍但也众所周知的做法就是在中国人的名片上印个（不带姓的）洋名儿，就像我有个中国名一样。这多让人糊涂啊？而且有时那些洋名儿还选得不伦不类。好比我就见过一个人的名片上印着“Green Chen”。我就纳闷儿，世上的名字千千万，他怎么偏就挑中了“绿色”作名字呢？难道他是位环保先驱？

反过来，有些外国人也取了很奇怪的中文名，比如有的美国人管自己叫“史大同”，用广东话念出来就成了“屎大桶”。

以前我在博客中也写到过一位北京的哥在名片上自称“约翰•史密斯”，好方便外国乘客记忆。他真是太有商业头脑了。

而最不受欢迎的就是内地人——多数还是留洋回国的人——把名片上的中文名和姓倒过来，让名在前，姓在后。这种好心的“西方化”非但没帮上什么忙，还让可怜的外国人陷入了迷茫的怪圈。中文名即使不倒过来就已经够复杂了，倒过来就更让刚习惯了中文名模式的外国人吃不消。

有一天我遇到一位中国青年，他的名片还真是特立独行。

名片上除了有他的彩色证件照外，旁边还印着生日（1971年）、婚姻状况（单身）、原职（曾任政府官员）、人生使命等等。但这些都不足为奇。

让我觉得不一般的是他在名片背面列上了父母、兄嫂以及侄子（现为学生）的姓名、职务和单位。

这也太神了。更让我惊讶的是，除了学生侄子以外，他的四名亲属都在中国某大城市的同一个公安部门出任高职，而他的父母被注明是该部门退休的高级官员。

好好看看，他自己在名片上没有任何职务和单位，但传达出来的信息就是他的家族人脉丰厚，神通广大。我明白了：认识这么多人，谁还用得着工作啊？

名片的沿革还在继续，下一个流行的是什么呢？

“Is This Your Name Card, or Family Tree?”

Name cards have been an interesting reflection of the changing times in China since I moved here in the mid-1970s.

When I first visited the Chinese mainland, there were no name cards, which created many guessing games about who was who on the other side of the conference table. The absence of name cards was not just due to a shortage of paper; it was a reflection of what information you as a visitor were allowed access to.

Full names and titles weren’t considered a high priority at the time. There wasn’t much going on in those days anyway, at least not in the world of business.

One of China’s distinguishing factors among the family of nations is the inverse relationship between her huge population and the tiny number of common Chinese surnames. About 100 common surnames in total, shared among nearly 1.5 billion people. That’s a whole lot of sharing.

So many people, so few names. And in the old days, only one title: ‘Comrade’. In the absence of name cards way back then, business meetings could conceivably have begun like this:

Foreign Visitor:	Chinese Official:
“Is your name Li?”	“No. Guess again.”
“Zhang!”	“No. Keep trying.”
“Chen?”	“Nope. One more time.”
“Huang?!”	“Nice try, but no. Keep going. Only 96 possibilities to go.”
“Comrade!”	“Fine, thank you.”

After reform. and opening, name cards became common among executives and officials, often with Chinese characters on one side and a mixture of English and pinyin romanized spelling on the other. From simple black and white affairs they evolved to 4-color printing with logos, brand names, and sometimes fancy printing effects like embossing.

Later, really really important people (RRIPs) seized upon an inflationary trend in their titles and affiliations. To impress friends and associates, they had business cards produced which had multiple folding pages like ancient Chinese books, with type fonts so small you needed a microscope to read them. The real purpose was not for you to read them anyway, just to be impressed by the number, and the scope, of titles and affiliations.

Less common but not unknown was the practice of printing only a Western given name on a Chinese person’s name card, which would be like me having only a Chinese name on mine. How confusing is that? And some of the chosen Western names were odd. I once met a man whose name card said “Green Chen”, and I wondered how in the world he came to choose this name. An early environmentalist, maybe.

On the other hand, some Westerners ended up with strange Chinese names as well, such as the American whose given Chinese name (史大同) sounded like “big bucket of shit” when pronounced in the Cantonese dialect.

Then there was the Beijing taxi driver I wrote about earlier in this series, whose name card said “John Smith” to make it easier for foreign customers to remember him. Very enterprising indeed.

The least welcome practice of all is when mainlanders — often those who have returned from overseas study — reverse the normal order of their Chinese names on their name cards, placing the given name first, and the surname last. This well-intentioned effort at Westernization is not helpful. It sends us poor Westerners into circles of confusion. Chinese names are complicated enough without turning them upside down just when the West was almost familiar with the Chinese style. of naming.

The other day I met a young Chinese gentleman with a very unusual name card.

The fact that he has his passport photo printed in color on his name card is not particularly noteworthy. Nor, really, is the fact that he lists his date of birth (in 1971), marital status (single), and former job title (he was once a government official) next to his photo; or the brief summary of his mission in life.

What struck me as unusual was that on the reverse of the card he lists the names, titles and organizations of his father, mother, brother, sister-in-law, and his nephew (who is a student).

This is novel. Even more striking is the fact that with the exception of his student nephew, the other four relatives listed all have senior titles in the same department of a rather large city in China. The department in which they all work is in the law enforcement field. His mother and father are listed as “retired” senior officials from that department.

So, let’s see. Given the fact that he does not list a current job affiliation for himself on the card, the message would seem to be that he is a resourceful chap from a resourceful family. Got it: with connections like that, who needs a job?

The name card continues its evolution. What’s next, I wonder?